Memphis Couple Stuck in New York Due To Sandy

“We were very fortunate where we stayed,” said Rob Clark, who works for Saint Jude Hospital.

Clark says he and his wife never lost power at their hotel in midtown Manhattan, but walking the streets Tuesday, they got an up-close look at the destruction Sandy caused.

“We’ve seen cars submerged at an apartment building that was flooded,” said Clark. “We’ve seen a lot of debris in the streets.”

Rob and his wife Karen flew to New York Saturday to see a live taping of the Jimmy Fallon Show, but the show did not go on, cancelled because of Sandy.

He says about everything else around town was called-off too, “Everything was closed. No Broadway shows. Nothing . No movies. Nothing. So, it was really strange being in the middle of midtown Manhattan with basically nothing to do.”

Rob and his wife are now trying to get back to Memphis, but the airports in New York are still closed, so they’re stuck for a while.

In the meantime, while they are trying to leave, other folks from Memphis are trying to get to New York.

“We have another 13 hours of driving that we will try to finish-up tomorrow,” said Paul Nolte, a Memphis volunteer with the American Red Cross.

Nolte is on the road in an emergency response vehicle.

He’s going to help anyone impacted by flooding and without power, “The truck that we are in is made for serving hot meals.”

It’s something Rob and Karen say they won’t need.

They hope to be back in Memphis Wednesday.

The couple said they booked a new flight scheduled to leave at 10:30 Wednesday morning, so they are hoping that works out.

They say their two kids, staying with grandma, are hoping they’ll be back in time for Halloween.